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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Yearly Headache

This aspect of Organic Farming I don’t enjoy ; The yearly paperwork . My Farm is Certified Organic , That means it meets or exceeds the practices and standards adopted by the USDA Organic Foods act of 1991 and all its amendments . The Certifying agent is Quality Certification Services (QCS) of Gainesville Florida . QCS is a nonprofit organization that works with all size farms anywhere in the Country . The Certification process is all about Documentation and Verification , generating 100’s of pages every year.. An applicant is required to Document and log every step of farm production from seed purchase to final sale. A complete Plan is submitted to QCS every year and is followed up by a physical inspection of the property buildings and paperwork. My plan is bare bones simple for many reasons , the Kiss (Keep It Simple STUPID !!) principle applies to most aspects of my life.. I give myself 2 weeks to complete the tedious paperwork , because after a few hours It gives me a headache . I think the Certification process is good and works well. Is it perfect ? No. but I think its fair and reasonable . Got to Go… Back to work I got 3 more hours of paperwork !!